Saban: Muslim Immigrants Should be ‘Scrutinized’

Muslim immigrants entering the United States should undergo greater scrutiny in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris, Hollywood mogul Haim Saban, one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest donors, said in an interview on Wednesday.

“You want to be free and dead? I’d rather be not free and alive,” Saban told TheWrap. “I’m not suggesting we put Muslims through some kind of a torture room to get them to admit that they are, or they’re not terrorists. But I am saying we should have more scrutiny. Scrutinize every single individual.”

“The reality is that certain things that are unacceptable in times of peace — such as profiling, listening in on anyone and everybody who looks suspicious, or interviewing Muslims in a more intense way than interviewing Christian refugees — is all acceptable [during war]. Why? Because we value life more than our civil liberties and it’s temporary until the problem goes away,” he explained.

On Tuesday, Clinton said that closing the door on refugees fleeing Syria would undermine “who we are as Americans.”

“We have always welcomed immigrants and refugees,” Clinton said during a campaign rally in Dallas, Texas. “We have made people feel that if they did their part, they sent their kids to school, they worked hard, there would be a place for them in America.” She did, however, reiterate her position that those seeking refuge must be carefully vetted. During the 2nd presidential debate on Saturday, Hillary also refused to use the term “radical Islam” since the U.S. “is not in war with Muslims.”

In his interview with TheWrap, Saban argued that his choice for president, Hillary Clinton, is best suited to deal with the situation as president, contrasting her against potential Republican rivals – Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. “We can’t afford the next president, basically the leader of the free world, to be an amateur that has done nothing other than missing votes, or a clown, to be making the decisions as to how to react,” he stressed. “You need to bring together a coalition of other countries under one tent. Hillary knows and has interacted with all these people; she has excellent relationships with all these people, is very respected by all these people and has been in the trenches her whole life. She is also made of steel, she’s absolutely made of steel, and she will take no baloney from no ISIS.”

The Hollywood media mogul also mocked Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for suggesting that climate change is a bigger threat that terrorism. “You want someone in the White House that’s not going to tell you, ‘Ah… if we had a better climate strategy, things would be better.'”

UPDATED: In a statement provided by his spokesperson to Jewish Insider, Saban said, “I misspoke. I believe that all refugees coming from Syria — a war-torn country that ISIS calls home – regardless of religion require additional scrutiny before entering the United States. At this moment in time, with hundreds killed in Paris and thousands more around the world, freedom as we know it is under existential threat. And while in contradiction to our country’s principles in time of peace, I’m comfortable with the government taking additional measures, including increased surveillance of individuals they deem suspicious. Our first priority is to protect the lives of our citizens and no liberty is more valuable than our safety. I regret making a religious distinction as opposed to a geographical one: it’s about scrutinizing every single individual coming from a country with ISIS strongholds.”